Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I can clearly remember the first time I met Jayna. It was at Miran and Corey's wedding. Jayna was doing Miran's makeup when I walked in with all my camera gear. It only took Jayna a moment to make me feel like the centre of attention, and also to totally make me blush. Jayna has an amazing way with people, and she can make anyone feel special with just a few words.

Maybe a year later we had a late night Facebook messenger heart to heart, and from that point on we were friends. Jayna has been a dear, dear friend since then. Think of the one person who will always be honest with you, and who will always give you a boost when you are upset, or take you down a notch when you're too high on yourself. And who always puts you first. That's Jayna.

During this whole time, while advising me on all sorts of ridiculous little issues, Jayna had the biggest day of her life in the works. She had found the man of her dreams and absolutely could not wait to tie the knot. But to say that there were barriers would be a huge understatement. It may sound strange but I was happy to be able to be supportive and to listen to everything that Jayna needed to talk about. Given all the support she had given me.

And as the details of the wedding slowly came together, a thought occurred to me and stuck. I knew I had to do it, even if I hadn't told Jayna yet. I wanted to shoot her wedding. It had to happen! When I finally told her, I think I had to repeat myself a few times before it sunk in. Come on, there was no way I was gonna let someone else film her wedding! Again, it was the least I could do. It doesn't hurt that Rey is an absolutely amazing person. It's hard to figure out who's luckier, Jayna or Rey…

So the wedding day arrives and I'm about to head over to the Fairmont Pacific Rim, and I get a text from Alicia Keats that makes no sense. Something about hanging tight and let's see what happens. See if you can drive to the hotel but it's doubtful. What?

On Jayna's wedding day, someone with a GUN decided to walk into the VERY SAME HOTEL and be an idiot. The result being that Cordova and all the roads around were shut down, and no one could leave or enter the Fairmont. You can see a news excerpt in the video. And then a dissolve to Jayna looking stunning. What I'm trying to say is, you can't stop Jayna!

It was such a privilege to be a part of Jayna and Rey's day. One year ago today. Here's to many more crazy days, just not QUITE as crazy as your wedding day.

Monday, October 7, 2013

There is definitely something cosmic out there. Something that creates beauty out of chaos, like a pair of scissors slicing through the clouds to reveal a blinding sun. It happened midway through Kiki and Corey's day, which up to that point had been pure, rainy chaos. When I started in the wedding industry 6 years ago I experienced many days like this, so it was sort of a throwback. To days when having things work the way you wanted was an impossibility. When you had to throw out your usual approaches and improvise every moment. It was good.

I put this video together quickly as a teaser for Kiki and Corey. Except for a very brief meeting, we had not met before the wedding and I wasn't sure if they at all knew what we'd be creating for them. So before they left town I wanted them to see some of what we had captured. Also, I absolutely had to share the opening time lapses, shot from the Teahouse in Stanley Park right when the sun exploded from behind the clouds.